New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers,referred to as the Knicks, are a professional Basketball team based in New York City, New York. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team was established in 1946 as one of the founding members of the Basketball Association America (BAA), which bacame the BBA after merging with their rival, the National Basketball League (NBL) in 1949. The Knicks are one of only two teams of the original National Basketball Association still located in its original city (the other being the Boston Celtics). The team plays in Madison Square Garden, nicknamed The World's Most Famous Arena, in the borough of Manhattan, as opposed to its New York City rival, the Brooklyn Nets, who play in Brooklyn. The "Knickerbocker" name comes from the pseudonym used by Washington Iriving in his book A History of New York, a name which became applied to the descendants of the original Dutch setlers of what later became New York, and later, by extension, to New Yorkers in general. The Knicks were successful during their early years and were constant playoff contenders. Beginning in 1950, the Knicks made three consecutive appearances in the NBA Finals, all of which were losing efforts. Subsequently, the team began to falter and it was not until the late 1960s when Red Holzman became head coach did the Knicks begin to regain their former dominance. Holzman successfully guided the Knicks to two championship titles in 1970 and 1973 The playoff-level Knicks of the 1990s were led by future Hall of Fame center Patrick Ewing marked by three passionate rivalries with Alonzo mouring's Miami Heat, Reggie Miller's Indiana Paceres, and Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls,respectively.this time, they were well known for displaying tough defense under head coach Pat Rilley before Jeff Van Gundy assumed the position in 1995.Their success during this decade was highlighted by two appearances in the NBA Finals in 1994 and 1999.Despite being a consistent playoff contender, they never attained an NBA Championship Duruing this time largely due to the Ichael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls liminating the team from contention time and time again From 2001-2010, the Knicks struggled to recapture their former success, only making the playoffs two times during that span. Since then the Knicks have returned to contention due to the acquisition of Amar'e Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony, and Tyson chandler. Most recently, the Knicks finished the 2012–2013 regular season with a 54-28 record and won their first division title in 19 years. They went on to eliminate the Boston Celtics 4–2 in the first round of the playoffs, but fell short to the Indiana Pacers in the second round, losing that series in six games. Return to Contention (2012–present) The Knicks began their offseason by selecting Greek forward Kostas Papanikolaou in the 2012 NBA Draft. One week later, the team came to terms with veteran point guard Jason Kidd, who was originally supposed to serve as a backup to Lin. The Knicks also re-acquired Marcus Camby from the Houston Rockets in a sign and trade sending Houston Josh Harrellson, Jerome Jordan, Toney Douglas and 2014 and 2015 two second round picks and completed a sign-and-trade with the Portland Trail Blazers that brought back Raymond Felton and Kurt Thomas in exchange for Jared Jeffries, Dan Gadzuric, and the draft rights to Papanikolaou and Greek forward Georgios Printezis, whose draft rights had been acquired by the Knicks in December 2011. The Knicks also re-signed free agents J. R. Smith and Steve Novak and added more players to the roster, such as James White, Chris Copeland, and Argentinian point guard Pablo Prigioni. However the Knicks lost restricted free agents shooting guard, Landry Fields to the Toronto Raptors and point guard, Jeremy Lin to the Houston Rockets, who were both key players during the 2011-12 NBA season. The Knicks decided not to match those teams' offers. Despite these losses, the Knicks continued to add players to the roster, signing former Chicago Bulls guard Ronnie Brewer on July 25, 2012 and signing Chris Smith, the younger brother of J.R. Smith, on August 1, 2012. It was also announced that Rasheed Wallace would come out of retirement to play for the Knicks on October 2, 2012. Despite playing without an injured Iman Shumpert and Amar'e Stoudemire, the Knicks compiled an 18–5 record to start the season, their best start since 1993. In their first four games, they scored at least 100 points and won by double digits in all of those games. The streak ended after a 10 point loss to Memphis Grizzlies. The following Sunday, in a game against the Indiana Pacers the Knicks at home went on to win 88–76, assuring them a 7–1 record. After two tough losses to the Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets, the Knicks returned home in a game against the Detroit Pistons on November 25, with a 121–100 blowout win, making them one of only three teams undefeated at home along with the Miami Heat and Utah Jazz. The Knicks finished November with a 11–4 record, their best month record since going 11–6 in March 2000.142 By the All-Star break in mid-February 2013, the Knicks compiled a 32-18 record, good for second in the Eastern Conference. On February 21, on the trade deadline, the team traded Ronnie Brewer for a 2014 second-round draft pick. The Knicks then signed veteran power forward Kenyon Martin to a 10-day contract. In late March, the Knicks went on to compile a four-game losing streak, tying their worst skid of the season. They would go on and face the Jazz on the road, eventually winning the game and starting what would turn out to be a 13-game winning streak, including wins against the Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder. This was the third-longest winning streak in franchise history. On April 9, the Knicks beat the Washington Wizards to secure the Atlantic Division title for the first time since the 1993-94 NBA season. The Knicks' 13-game winning streak came to an end on April 11 as they lost to the Chicago Bulls. Despite that, they set the NBA single season record for three-pointers. On May 3, the Knicks defeated the Boston Celtics in the first round of the NBA playoffs, 4-2, their first playoff victory since 2000. On May 18, the Knicks were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs, losing the series to the Indiana Pacers 4-2. Point guard Jason Kidd retired following the end of the season—he was named head coach of the Brooklyn Nets a few weeks later. New York Knicks Roster Category:Eastern Conference